Ring-a-rim closures



DeC- 3, 1968i y l l.. wlLcox 3,414,183

RING-A-RIM CLOSURES Filed Aug. 24, 1966 VT l l l i! i lr-6 l I'l /NVENTOR .wlLCox E fw; MM2;

ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,414,183 RING-A-RIM CLOSURES Isaac L. Wilcox, Fulton, N.Y., assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 574,678 11 Claims. (Cl. 229-43) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A rim structure for use in a closure assembly which enables a plurality `of rims to be stacked together, and a plurality of nestable containers to be nest-fitted together when the rims are in place on the containers. A top member for enclosing the container can be placed on the rim after the Container has been filled.

This invention relates to closures for containers. In one aspect it relates to a closure being made of composite materials, one of which provides a rigid peripheral rim portion shaped to be coincident with the open mouth wall surface structure of a container to be closed and the other a rigid member adapted to bridge the opening in the rim thereby serving to maintain concentricity therewith. Another aspect of this invention, a rigid plastic peripheral rim and a rigid disc member adapted to be press fitted into the rim to bridge the opening therein and also to provide a surface for printing decorative color designs of brand identification of the product found in the container is provided. In another aspect this invention relates to a closure `having a rigid plastic rim the opening of `which is bridged by a flexible disc joined to the rim. In yet another aspect, this invention provides a closure means enabling a plurality of containers to `be nest-fitted together.

While the closures of the instant in-vention may be made adaptable -for use on various `general shapes of containers such as those of conical, frustoconical, pyramidal, frustopyramidal, or of rectangular shape, it will be il-lustrated hereinafter in connection with conventional types of frustoconical containers.

Conventional closures now on the market do not provide the structure which enables a plurality of containers to be nest-fitted together in order to reduce the space required for shipping the empty containers. Nor do the conventional closures now on the market provide a means `for guarding against contamination of the top rim or lip of the container when the containers are being handled. The rim portion of the closures of the instant invention -are able to be snap-fitted together `because of the structure of this rim. By applying the rim portion of the closure around the top o'f the container immediately after it has been formed the rim will protect the top of the container from becoming contaminated or damaged during shipment to the filling plant. The rigid disc member adapted to ibridge the opening in the rim can be shipped separately and can -be applied by such means as press fitting, heat sealing or the like after the containers have been filled at the filling plant. The ultimate consumer will remove 'both the rim and the disc member as a single unit thereby insuring improved sanitary sealing over the devices of the prior art.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide containers with an efficient and strictly sanitary selfsealing closure.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a closure for containers having means with which the containers may be nested during shipment and with which the top of the containers may be protected against soiling.

Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide Patented Dec. 3, 196s ICC containers with a substantially impervious closure made of composite materials, one of ywhich provides for economical printing of brand decoration thereupon.

A still further object of this invention is provide a closure having a transparent disc for display of the contents lwithin the container.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description which is to be considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a container with a portion of the side wall broken away in a disassembled position;

FIGURE 2 is an axonometric view o'f the closure assembly showing another embodiment o-f the means for supporting the disc which covers the opening in the rim portion;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view in cross-section of the .containers with the closure rim in place showing them in nested formation;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional Iview of another ernbodiment of the rim portion of the closure means.

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the closure assembly showing the disc bonded to the rim.

With reference to FIGURE 1 of the drawing, the closure 1 fits container 3. A disc 4 which is composed of stiff rmaterial provides an end `wall over the mouth area -8 of the container. Disc 4 may 'be printed economically with color decoration and is preferably made of a fibrous board material which is preferably coated with a plastic film such as polyethylene, polypropylene, or the like. It is also within the scope of the invention to make it entirely from a plastic or metallic material. The disc 4 may 'be m-ade transparent by makin-g a portion of it or all of it from .a material such as cellulose acetate, ethyl cellulose, or other suitable transparent material.

In addition to the disc 4, the composite closure aS- sembly y1 comprises a rigid rim 6 -which is provided with `a wall surface contour shape `coincident with or otherwise suitable for engaging and being retained by the side wall 7 of container 3. The rim -6 is provided with an upwardly extending wall 9. The upper portion of the wall 9 produces a shoulder 11 along the outside edge of rim 6. The function of this shoulder structure will be explained hereinafter.

A first annular flange 13 extends `around the inner side of the wall 9. A secondannular flange 17 of greater width extends around the inner wall 9 at a predetermined distance beneath the rst flange wherein it cooperates with the first flange to provide `a groove 19 for receiving and retaining the disc 4, which may be heat `sealed or press fitted into the :groove 19.

In a preferred embodiment (FIGURE 2) of the invention in lieu of the wide second iiange 17 a narrower ange 1'7 with a plurality of -crescent-shaped areas 21 which extend inwardly from flange 17 are provided to support the disc 4. Alternately flange 17 may be replaced entirely by crescent-shaped areas 21 extending inwardly from wall 9. Also for the .crescent-shaped' areas 21 areas of triangular shape `or polygonal shape may be substituted.

FIGURE 4 demonstrates another embodiment of the invention wherein thegroove '23 is V-shaped in the inner side of the upward-ly extending `wall 9 in order to provide a better seal for the disc 4 as a higher unit pressure necessary to improve the seal is obtained by engaging the edges of disc 4 rather than the cylindrical portion.

The rim 6 is snap-fitted around the top of the container for shipment and the shoulder 11 is of sufficient width to provide a ledge so that suitable tools in the feeder magazine can hook onto shoulder 11 and pull the lowermost container away from the stack of nested containers. In normal application the stacking relationship of the containers will be limited by the containers themselves and the rims when in place on the containers will not engage one another. This is shown in FIGURE 3.

The materials used for making the composite closure of the subject invention are not critical. The rim 6 may be made of a metallic material or it may be fabricated from any suitable plastic material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and the like. It may also be made of a fibrous board such as paperboard which has been coated with a suitable plastic, preferably polyethylene. The irnportant aspect to be noted in regard to the rim 6 is that whatever material it is made of that it must maintain its rigidity. The disc 4 can be made of either rigid materials such as polyethylene or polypropylene coated paperboard, polyethylene or polypropylene sheet, paperboard, metal, or of flexible material such as polyethylene film, polyethylene or polypropylene coated paper or laminated films. Where flexible films are employed the disc 4 is bonded or heat sealed to the rim 6 as shown in FIG- URE 5.

The composite closure 1 of the instant invention may be modified in the shape of the rim 6 with a lower bead 10 for adaptation to containers having rolled rims around the mouth thereof or it may be modified in other manner in order to accommodate other container openings having different shapes such as iianges, threaded tops, etc.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the pressent invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

What is claimed is:

1. An article of manufacture suitable for use in a closure assembly on an open-mouthed nestable container which comprises a rim structure having a peripheral configuration matching that of the mouth of said container and having upper and lower substantially vertically extending wall portions, the imier perimeter of said lower wall portion being greater than the outer perimeter of the open mouth member of the nestable container over which said rim structure is designed to be snugly fitted, the inner perimeter of said Iupper wall portion being less than the inner perimeter of said lower wall portion and greater than the minimum outer perimeter of said container, and the outer perimeter of said upper wall portion being less than the inner perimeter of said lower wall portion; said upper and lower wall portions thereby forming a shoulder on the outer surface of said rim structure which enables a plurality of rim structures having the same configuration to be fitted one on the other so that the lower edge of a first rim structure rests on the shoulder of another of said rim structures positioned immediately below the first rim str-ucture, said upper and lower wall portions also forming a flange on the inner surface of said rim structure which ange supports said rim structure when said rim is positioned over said open mouth member of said container, said container when fitted with said rim structure being capable to be nest-fitted with a like container-rim assembly.

2. An article of manufacture according to claim 1 wherein said flange is provided with a plurality of ledges which extend inwardly, the perimeter of an imaginary line drawn parallel to the inner surface of said upper wall portion and connecting the innermost edges of said ledges being less than the outer perimeter of said open mouth member of said container, but greater than the inner perimeter of said open mouth member of said container.

3. An article of manufacture according to claim 2 wherein said open mouth nestable container is frustoconical and said rim structure is circular.

4. An article of manufacture according to claim 2 wherein the inner surface of said upper wall portion is provided with a circumferential groove, positioned above said flange, thereby providing means whereby a rigid lid member having the same geometrical peripheral shape as said rim structure, a thickness equal to or slightly less than the width of said groove, and a perimeter greater than the inner perimeter of said upper wall portion and equal to or lesser than the greatest perimeter of said groove can be fitted into said groove to form the top of said closure assembly.

5. An article of manufacture according to claim 4 wherein the -upper surface of said upper wall portion is slanted downwardly and inwardly to provide means whereby said lid member can be guided into said groove when pressed onto said rim, said nestable container is frusto-conical, said rim structure is circular, and said lid member is disc-shaped.

6. An article of manufacture according to claim 5 wherein said groove is V-shaped.

7. An assembly which comprises in combination a rim structure according to claim 1 and a nestable frustoconical or -frusto-parametal container, the open mouth member of said container having the same peripheral geometrical shape as said rim structure and being designed to be fitted coincident with the lower wall portion of said rim structure, said container having a minimum outer perimeter which is less than the inner perimeter of said upper wall portion of said rim thereby permitting a plurality of said assemblies to be nest-fitted together.

8. An assembly according to claim 7 wherein said rim structure is circular.

9. A closure assembly which comprises in combination an assembly according to claim 7 and a lid member adapted to be bonded to the upper surface of said upper wall portion of said rim structure thereby forming the top of said closure assembly.

10. A closure assembly which comprises in combination an assembly according to claim 8 and a lid member having the same peripheral geometrical shape as said rim structure, a thickness equal to or slightly less than the width of said groove, and a perimeter greater than the inner perimeter of said upper wall portion and equal to or less than the greatest perimeter of said groove so that said lid member can be press fitted into said groove thereby forming the top of said closure assembly.

11. A closure assembly according to claim 10 wherein said rim structure is circular, said container is rusto-conical, and said top member is a disc-shaped member adapted to be fitted into the said groove.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,857,853 5/1932 McMann 215-95 X 2,045,480 6/1936 Magnesen et al 21S-95 X 2,926,812 3/1960 Wilcox 22097 X 3,154,215 10/1964 Vesconte 220-97 3,317,087 5/1967 Landis 220-97 X DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primary Examiner. 

